Wednesday Reading
Currently, I'm reading a book for review that I can't reveal to you, and Untamed by Anna Cowan.
I've had to put the Cowan aside for the nonce, however, because right before I left WisCon, my e-reader croaked; it seems to be a hardware issue involving the on-off switch, plus some other stuff resulting from its age and heavy use. I have purchased a new e-reader, despite this not being a good time to spend the money on one, because aside from the pleasure reading on it, and all the fanfiction, I need to be able to read fifteen upcoming galleys for preview posts. Luckily, I keep backups of all my files, and was able to copy the vital files again onto my netbook for extra backup, while stuck in the airport Monday. Now I just have to wait for the new e-reader. It has not yet shipped.
Comments so far on Untamed, which contrary to the following, I do not hate: 1) I think it wants to be These Old Shades, with a bit of The Masqueraders, but does not succeed; 2) the diction is extremely erratic, with modernisms all over the place; 3) the historical detail appears random and either doesn't serve the story or damages its credibility; 4) the character development must have happened somewhere in backstory, because it certainly isn't happening on the page (it's a bit like reading fanfic for a show you've never watched, with the characters knowing things about each other they have no way of knowing, or which they have extrapolated from looking at the other person's eyes from across the street). However, the hero cross-dresses, which is why I am reading it anyway. I just wish the story was better executed. With, like, tension being built and released, and consistent diction, and all that stuff. I am picky like that.
In About Time 3, I'm in the midst of reading about the first season with The Master.
WisCon purchase: Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler, edited by Rebecca J. Holden and Nisi Shawl. A e-edition should be forthcoming from Aqueduct, but I got the paperback; I prefer paper for my academic reading, most of the time. I was pretty excited to see this on their table in the dealers' room, as I hadn't realized it was out. I learned that the copies were so new they'd been shipped directly to the hotel.
I've had to put the Cowan aside for the nonce, however, because right before I left WisCon, my e-reader croaked; it seems to be a hardware issue involving the on-off switch, plus some other stuff resulting from its age and heavy use. I have purchased a new e-reader, despite this not being a good time to spend the money on one, because aside from the pleasure reading on it, and all the fanfiction, I need to be able to read fifteen upcoming galleys for preview posts. Luckily, I keep backups of all my files, and was able to copy the vital files again onto my netbook for extra backup, while stuck in the airport Monday. Now I just have to wait for the new e-reader. It has not yet shipped.
Comments so far on Untamed, which contrary to the following, I do not hate: 1) I think it wants to be These Old Shades, with a bit of The Masqueraders, but does not succeed; 2) the diction is extremely erratic, with modernisms all over the place; 3) the historical detail appears random and either doesn't serve the story or damages its credibility; 4) the character development must have happened somewhere in backstory, because it certainly isn't happening on the page (it's a bit like reading fanfic for a show you've never watched, with the characters knowing things about each other they have no way of knowing, or which they have extrapolated from looking at the other person's eyes from across the street). However, the hero cross-dresses, which is why I am reading it anyway. I just wish the story was better executed. With, like, tension being built and released, and consistent diction, and all that stuff. I am picky like that.
In About Time 3, I'm in the midst of reading about the first season with The Master.
WisCon purchase: Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler, edited by Rebecca J. Holden and Nisi Shawl. A e-edition should be forthcoming from Aqueduct, but I got the paperback; I prefer paper for my academic reading, most of the time. I was pretty excited to see this on their table in the dealers' room, as I hadn't realized it was out. I learned that the copies were so new they'd been shipped directly to the hotel.